Live with thanksgiving, forgiveness, and joy, and enjoy all your moments as if they were your last.
We've all heard this phrase: "Enjoy all your moments as if they were your last." But who really does that? Well, certainly not I. Who can keep up that amount of energy, anyway? The answer is: someone whose heart is truly thankful...and joyful...and forgiving.
Debi starts this chapter with a bang:
"You have control over whether or not you and your husband will be 'heirs together of the grace of life' (1 Pet 3:7), or partners together in the tension and stress of life.
You have much more control than you know."
She goes into a story about how her husband usually doesn't take the trash out. Her choice is: be annoyed, or find enjoyment in taking it out herself. She's smart - she learned to enjoy it. One day, she was taking a particularly large bag of trash out the door, when her husband scooped it up. He walked ahead of her, displaying his manly strength by holding it away from his body with one hand. When he neared the dumpster, in a great display of macho-ness, he flung the bag of trash. Instead of sinking it, the string broke, it hit the side of the trailer, and trash flew everywhere. As Debbie rushed to clean up the mess, he just "continued on his merry way." (At this point my jaw dropped. I would be SO angry!)
-Her point is that rather than be irritated to the point of bitterness, and make sure that he felt her disappointment the rest of the day, she was able to recognize the damage that had just been done to his male psyche. He was completely embarrassed, and she knew he would make sure to do it right next time.
-And really- is a BAG OF TRASH really that important to get all heated over? Well, there have been even less important things that I have found ways to get upset about. It's impressive, I know.
Make Love Fun
I love how Debbie describes her relationship with Mike. She is his playmate. (So... playmeet?) It's hard to be a playmate if you're constantly annoyed. Release those things. So what if you had to take the trash out this time (or ALL the time)? Clearing those things from your mind will allow you to be aware of the opportunities for FUN.
-"This, then, is the rule of life for wives: Live with thanksgiving, forgiveness, and joy, and enjoy all your moments as if they were your last. Someday, soon enough, they will be."
~Time to Consider~
A good help meet is:
+ Joyful
+ Makes love fun
+ Thankful and content
"Joy is often lacking in a woman's life because she is not thankful."
Debi suggests the following ways to cultivate joy in our lives:
-Make a written list of ways that you can start showing thankfulness; then start living your list and show a thankful life.
-Say thank you and make mental notes to appreciate all the people God has placed around you.
Psalm 100:4 ~
"Enter His gates with thanksgiving,
and His courts with praise!
Give thanks to Him; bless his name!"
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